Fireplace fuel elevator



May 22, 1951 R. J. DUFORD FIREPLACE FUEL ELEVATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 5, 1948 Fue. 1 FIGE IN VEN TOR. 'RQBERT J. DUFORD ATTORNEY.

May 22, 1951 R. J. DUFORD 2,553,962

FIREPLACE FUEL ELEVATOR Filed June 5, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 68 3s 68 g 23 l Q43 26 72. v g2 80' -38 15 47 ROBERT J. DUFORD ATTORNEY Patented May 22, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FIREPLACE FUEL ELEVATOR, Robert J. Duford, Painesville, Ohio Application June 5, 1948, Serial No. 31,379

6 Claims.

This invention relates to elevators; and particularly to elevators of the class for elevating fireplace fuel from the basement of a residence to a room on the floor above at a point adjacent to a fireplace on that floor.

Elevators for this purpose have been proposed comprising a platform arranged to be raised and lowered by motor power and an elevator mechanism housed in a framework between the basement floor and the room floor above; the framework being open so that the fuel such as fireplace wood can be laid on the platform in the basement, whence it is elevated through an opening in the room floor normally closed and covered by a door.

The primary objection to such elevators has been their limited capacity. Only a few pieces of fuel wood can be accommodated on the platform at one time without danger of falling off, and perhaps becoming fouled with and damaging the elevating mechanism; and it is almost as inconvenient to make repeated trips to the basement to reload the platform as it is to carry the wood upstairs.

Again in prior elevators of this class, it has been found to be simple and safe to start and stop the elevator motor by a make and break push button control when the platform is loaded because a small movement more or less beyond the desired stopping point when the platform is below the top merely raises the fuel a little and does no harm; but when the motor is operated with the platform empty, the operator is apt to let the platform rise too far and damage the elevator mechanism, so that it has been found necessary to provide limit switches with'their attendant expense and upkeep to cut off and stop the motor automatically when the platform reaches the top of its flight. Such limit switches have also been found necessary when there are children in the family because of the fun of operating the elevator and their lack of skill in controlling it.

Among the objects of this invention are to provide an elevator in which these and'other objections to prior elevators of this class are obviated.

In general, the elevator embodying the invention herein comprises a vertical, closed, walled, elevator shaft, and a platform or pan substantially fitting the shaft transversely, and reciprocable therein by a motor'power mechanism. The mechanism comprises endless chains running over upper and lower chain sprockets to which the platform is connected, arranged so that when the platform or pan is not loaded, the chains may be driven continuously in one direction, and the platform will first be lifted to the top of the chain flight, determined by the location of the upper sprockets, and then lowered to the bottom and so on repeatedly without stopping or reversing the motor.

A loading arrangement is provided by which a great quantity of fuel may be loaded on the platform when it is at the bottom of the shaft filling the shaft from the platform at the bottom to the floor door at the top, and by push button starting and stopping of the motor, the top of the load of fuel may be raised by increments from time to time as fuel is removed therefrom. Thus the platform in the closed shaft operates on the principles of a piston in a cylinder, the piston pushing the fuel out of one end of the cylinder.

The invention itself is set forth in the appended claims.

An embodiment of the invention is described and illustrated in the following description and in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view with parts broken away and parts in section illustrating an embodiment of the invention, and the view may be considered as taken from the plane I| of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of Fig. l; and the view may be considered as taken from the plane 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view from the plane 33 of Fi 1;

Fig. i is a fragmentary sectional view to enlarged scale taken from the plane 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmenetary sectional View to enlarged scale, taken from the plane 5--5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view to enlarged scale taken from the plane 6-8 of Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary view taken from the plane l'-i of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing,'there is shown at l a basement floor and at 2 the floor above it, the latter having an opening 3 therein and a door 4 for the opening, the door when closed being flush with the floor.

Under the door =3 and communicating with the opening is a vertical elevator shaft 5, of rectangular cross section, formed by front and back walls 6l and side walls t-t made from heavy sheet metal. The shaft is preferably supported on the basement floor by vertically adjustable feet as indicated at lli 8 whereby the upper end of the shaft may be adjusted to fit the underside of the upper floor and to be in line with the opening 3.

A horizontal platform, pan or the like II for supporting a load of fuel as referred to is reciprocated vertically in the shaft in the operation of the apparatus, and is dimensioned and shaped at its periphery so as to substantially fit with small clearance in the shaft 5 and slide upon the inner walls 6l89 of the shaft and be guided thereby.

At opposite sides of the platform it has hangers l2!3 hinged thereto to swing in vertical planes, the hangers projecting through vertical slots l4l5 in the walls 39 and into vertical walled housings l5i7f at opposite sides of the elevator shaft, the housings formed from sheet metal walls l8-l9-26l and 2l-22-23 respectively, secured to the outside of the shaft 5 in any suitable manner for example by welding.

The raising and lowering mechanism for the platform ii is housed in these housings lG-il and will now be described.

A rotary shaft 24 extends from front to back of the housing [6, mounted in bearing brackets 25-26 secured to and supported on the housing walls l8-20; and passes through the Wall 20 and has a bevel gear 21 thereon.

On the shaft 24 are sprocket wheels 28-29 tatable therewith.

'Above and parallel to the shaft 24 are inwardly extending stub shafts 30-31 supported by the brackets 25-26. Rotatable in unison with the stub shaft 38 are sprockets 32-33 and, rotatable with the stub shaft 3!, are like sprockets 34-35. A sprocket chain 36 drivingly connects the sprockets 28-32 and a chain 3? drivingly connects the sprockets 29-34.

In the opposite housing I! are corresponding parts, comprising a rotary shaft 38 having an external bevel gear 39, sprockets itll on the shaft driving, by chains 42-43, sprockets 44-45 and 46-4? on stub shafts 48-49 respectively.

Directly above each of the sprockets 33-35- 45-41 are sprockets E-5I-52-53 rotably mounted on stub shafts 54-55-55-551 near the top of the elevator shaft.

A Vertical sprocket chain 58, runs on the pair of lower and upper stub shafts sprockets 33-56; a chain 59 runs on sprockets 35-5l; a chain 6% runs on shafts 45-52; and a chain Bl runs on sprockets 41-53.

The shafts 24-38 are rotably driven in opposite directions as follows. Extending horizontally along the outside of the elevator shaft wall 7 is a transverse power shaft 62 mounted in rotary bearings 63-54-65-6ii mounted on the shaft wall '1'. On its ends are mounted bevel gears 61-58 meshed respectively with the bevel gears 21-39. Between the bearings 64-85 the shaft 62 has a worm gear 69 thereon with which is meshed a worm to on the shaft ll of an electric motor 12 mounted on the outside of the shaft wall I.

As will be seen the motor '52 transmits rotary movement to the shafts 24-28 in opposite directions. Also as will now be apparent the two sprocket chains 58-59 in the housing l6 rotate in the same direction and in unison; and the sprocket chains BEE-8| in the housing I! rotate in the same direction and in unison; the chains 58-59 in the housing It rotating oppositely to the chains 60-6] in the housing H, and all four chains 58-59-90-6l moving at the same speed, this latter being preferably accomplished by making the driving sprockets 28-29-40-4l all of the same diameter and the driven sprockets 33-34- 44-46 all of the same diameter; and the driven sprockets 33-35-45-4? all of the same diameter.

When the motor 12 is running and driving the chains, there will be an ascending flight and a descending flight on each of the four chains 58-59-6fl-H. The direction of the motor '12 is preferably chosen so that the ascending flights will be on the side adjacent the elevator walls 8 and 9, that is to say, the flights T3-l4-l5-18 indicated in the drawing will be ascending flights.

The free ends of the links or hangers l2-i3 at the opposite ends of the platform I l and passing through the slots I i-l5 into the housings It-ll have rotary bearing connections 11-18 with the middle portion of bars 19-80. The two opposite ends of the bar l9 are connected to corresponding links of the ascending chain flight 13-14 and the ends of the bar are similarly connected to the ascending flights 15-16.

As will now be apparent, the platform II will be carried by the ascending chain flights, and elevated therewith; and when the bars is-8D reach the tops of the ascending flights to which they are connected, the bars IQ-8G will be carried over and around the top sprockets 5il-5l- 52-53 and descend with the descending chain flights; the rods 19-85 rotating in the bearing connections ll-l8 and the hangers I2-l3 hin ing on the platform I I, as the rods make the turn at the top.

When the rods 19-80 reach the bottoms of the descending flights, they are carried around and under the sprockets 33-35 and 45-47 and begin to rise again with the ascending flights.

By the said drive interconnections and the maintaining of the same speed for all four vertical chains 58-59-6ll-6l, one end of the platform cannot get ahead of the other.

An outwardly opening door 8i is provided high up in the shaft wall 6 through which fuel is passed to load the platform II.

The preferred procedure is to start the platform downward, on the descending flights and stop it just below the door 8!. Some fuel can then be loaded on the platform through the door. Then the platform is moved downwardly a short distance and more fuel is put on; and so on until the platform is at the bottom of its travel. The platform can thus be loaded from the bottom all the way up to the top of the door iii. The door is then closed and becomes a part of the shaft wall.

In operation, the floor door 4 is opened, the motor is started and the platform rises until the top of the pile of fuel in the shaft is at or near the upper floor level and then the motor is stopped. Fuel may then be removed for the fire place and the door 4 closed. From time to time as more fuel is wanted, the motor is similarly started and stopped, raising the top of the fuel to a convenient height by increments.

When the platform has been emptied, the motor is started and the platform starts down again for another filling.

When the platform carries a full load, the fuel above it, in a column, is contained within the elevator shaft walls and slides thereon as the platform rises.

The slots I i-l 5 can be Very narrow, as shown in Fig. 6, so that whether the fuel is wood, or lumps of coal, or coke, etc, it cannot fall through the slots, nor project therethrough and jam and interfere with operation.

The motor 72 does not have to be reversed, as will be apparent from the foregoing description. The control of it can therefore be very simple. A fractional horsepower motor geared down at the worm and Worm wheel 69-10 will suffice and it can be started and stopped by closing and opening a push button contactor located at any convenient point.

Preferably, it may be desirable to locate it so as to be accessible only when the floor door 4 is open, because then the top level of the fuel can be seen and the motor can be operated to raise the level only as much as suitable; and if by carslessness, it is raised too far, the only harm is that the door .4 may not close until some of the fuel is removed.

However, if desired, additional push buttons understood by those skilled in the art and it is eemed unnecessary to show and describe any particular diagram of wiring connections therefor.

The load upon the platform H cannot drive the elevating mechanism backwards, because of the worm and gear engagement E9lll in the line of transmission which acts as a lock to prevent reverse transmission of power.

The invention is not limited to the exact details of the preferred embodiment illustrated and described; but is comprehensive of all changes and modifications thereof that will occur to those skilled in the art, and which come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An elevator of the class described comprising a vertically elongated elevator shaft having vertical enclosing walls on all sides and open at the top; vertical slot-like openings through opposite walls;- a door-closed access opening through a wall; a horizontal load platform in the shaft; upon which discrete material may be placed through the access opening and stand in a pile throughout at least the greater portion or the vertical length of the shaft above the platform; a motor operated elevating mechanism to raise the platform and load pile by increments, to maintain the top of the pile conveniently accessible at the top of the shaft; the platform substantially filling the shaft transversely; the pile of material being slidingly guided by the shaft walls and thereby prevented from toppling over; the elevating mechanism being outside the enclosing walls; and connections between the mechanism and the platform extending through the vertical wall openings.

2. An elevator for raising fuel and like loads from a lower floor to an upper one; comprising a vertically elongated elevator shaft substantially closed on all sides by walls, and supported under the upper floor; the shaft being open at the top for communication with an opening in the upper floor; a door in a side wall of the shaft through which discrete material may be placed On the platform and stand in a pile thereon vertically throughout at least the greater portion of the shaft; a motor operated elevating mechanism to raise the platform and load pile by increments, to maintain the surface of the material conveniently accessible at the top of the shaft through the upper floor opening; the platform substantially filling the shaft transversely; and. the pile of material being guided by the shaft walls to prevent its toppling over; vertical slotlike openings in opposite shaft walls; the elevating mechanism being outside the enclosing walls; and connections between the mechanism and. the platform extending through the vertical wall openings.

3. An elevator of the class described comprising a load platform; an elevator mechanism comprising a pair of vertically disposed endless chains or the like at opposite sides of the platform, each chain running on upper and lower sprocket wheels or the like; a motor driven transmission driving the chains on their upper and lower sprockets in unison and at the same speed and in the same direction so that the links of the chains move upwardly and then downwardly around closed paths of movement; connecting elements at each side of the platform connected to four selected links of the two pairs of chains that are moving at the same time upwardly or downwardly; the connections constructed to cause the platform to be raised as the selected links move upwardly and to be lowered when the selected links move downwardly; to cause the platform to be reciprocated vertically as the chains are driven in one direction.

4. An elevator of the class described comprising a load platform; a power driven elevator mechanism comprising a plurality of endless chains the chains supported and driven to cause the links of the chains to travel in one direction around elongated vertical closed paths of movement; connections between the platform and selected chain links to cause the platform to travel with the links; and to move reciprocatingly upwardly and then downwardly, during said onedirection travel of the links.

5. An elevator of the class described comprising an elevator shaft, platform means disposed in said shaft for vertical travel therein, wheel means fixed near the top and the bottom of said shaft, endless elevating means disposed over said wheel means, hangers connecting said platform to said elevating means, said elevating means being so disposed that said hangers and said latform may travel alternately upward or downward during continuous one-way travel of said elevating means.

6. An elevator of the class described comprising an elevator shaft enclosed by four vertically extending walls, one pair of opposite walls being formed with vertical slots extending substantially the length of the wall, a platform vertically slidable in said shaft adapted to cooperate with said walls to support a load above said platform, upper sprockets rotatably mounted on each upper corner on the outside of said pair of slotted walls, lower sprockets rotatably mounted at the lower corner on the outside of each of said slotted walls, drive means to drive each of said lower sprockets at the same speed, an endless chain disposed about each corresponding pair of one upper and one lower sprocket thereby providing a pair of continuous vertical chains on each of said slotted walls, the space between each said pair of chains on a single wall being unobstructed, connecting means between the two chains of each said pair of chains, and hangers extending through said slots and pivotally connected between said platform and said connecting means, said chains thereby being adapted to carry said platform alternately upward and downward while travelling in a continuous path in one direction.

ROBERT J. DUFORD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,867,568 Hirshfeld July 19, 1932 2,410,638 Brunette Nov. 5, 1946 

